Joyce Reynolds-Ward’s Peak Amygdala

Welcome to Peak Amygdala! Here you’ll find the latest publication information and availability of THE NETWALK SEQUENCE, as well as links to my other writing and notes from my studies about neuroscience and education. This is a site in process, so keep coming back…there’ll be more!

NEWEST AND EXCITING…..

PLEDGES OF HONOR, the exciting first book in the Goddess’s Honor series, is now live on Amazon, and Nook, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Oyster and others through Draft2Digital.

PLEDGES OF HONOR, the first book in the Goddess’s Honor series, introduces us to Katerin, a wandering circuit healer seeking to avoid both her past and a prophecy that could mean her doom. But when the suicide of a village healer sweeps her into the intrigues of Gods and humans, she has no choice but to face past and prophecy to do what is right. Can Katerin forge an alliance with the dangerously attractive Metkyi, avoid the curses of her destiny, and help restore a hidden leader to her rightful place? Explore this high fantasy story with a non-European setting and strong female characters for something different!

NETWALK’S CHILDREN, the third book in the Netwalk Sequence, is now live on Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBooks plus others through Draft2Digital.

The mysterious war machine device known as the Gizmo is getting restless and trying to use Melanie’s daughter Bess and her nephew Richard as a means of escape from its confinement. Meanwhile, problems arise with potential rogue Netwalkers tied not just to Melanie’s past but to her parents and the original capture of the Gizmo. Can Melanie work with her estranged Netwalker grandmother Sarah as well as Bess to stop the Gizmo and deal with past shadows that threaten to dominate Bess’s future?

Rianna, one of the genetically engineered weather monitoring modelers known as Canaries, has been cast out by the Canaries and is hunted by those who once protected her and who have murdered her boyfriend. In a world threatened by toxic Clouds, will Rianna be able to find love and safety?

DRAGONS, DROIDS, AND DOOM, edited by Iulian Ionescu and Frederick Doot, available here.

Wanna date a dragon? How about defend yourself in court with an orc as your lawyer? Or maybe you want to just sit in your loft and have a couple beers with your imaginary friend, or follow Merlin on his final days as he fights to stay alive.

No seriously, what if your girlfriend’s skin was stolen by a hag? Or if you found sheet music to a song to end the world… what would you do?

Dragons, Droids & Doom: Year One is a collection of all the stories published online by Fantasy Scroll Magazine in its first year. It includes a wide range of speculative short stories from fantasy to science fiction to horror. Some stories deal with death, others will leave you laughing to death. It’s all here, and it’s fantastic. Take a look; you won’t be disappointed.

There are rules for first contact with aliens. And a place to meet aliens where the rules are enforced. Simple things like avoiding smelly bodily emissions, even if your race considers them a compliment, and complicated things like not asking another race if they are edible. Feel free to read up on the rules of the First Contact Cafe, then pull up a bar stool, or a pool of sludge, have a drink of beer or get high on methane, and plan your next trade deal, a compelling con, or find a mate compatible to your DNA. But whatever you do, don’t piss off the bartender. Your prosperity, or your demise belongs in her hands. She owns the First Contact Café, and your soul.

TALES FROM AN ALIEN CAMPFIRE, edited by Phyllis Irene Radford, available here.

People have loved to go camping in the great outdoors ever since our ancestors escaped the great outdoors to discover the joys of indoor living.

Here, twelve veterans of the camping experience, both seasoned and new authors, present tales born in the woods, home grown around the campfire in the oldest of storytelling tradition.

Join in as they tell their tales, some serious and some silly. Stories borne of time spent with an audacious Pug mascot, good food, decent wine, and some spooky howls deep in the woods. You will find aliens: They want more than our women—they want that perfect vacation. Experience an attempt to reclaim a devastated Earth by camping out and exploring. Is it really a Sasquatch snitching the French toast? All of this and more are tales told around an Alien campfire.

COMING IN 2016…

NETWALKING SPACE, the fourth and possibly final book of the Netwalk Sequence.

CHALLENGES TO HONOR, the second book of Goddess’s Honor.

And assorted anthology appearances to be announced, plus a couple of novellas.